April is Alcohol Awareness Month and the
Putnam County Communities That Care (CTC) Coalition and the
National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependencies/Putnam remind you that if
your drinking has caused problems in your relationships, at work, at home,
financially, physically or legally, it’s time to get “Help for Today, Hope for Tomorrow.”
Drinking too much
alcohol can lead to health problems, including alcohol poisoning, and an
increased risk of heart disease. This April, during the 27th anniversary
of Alcohol Awareness Month, we encourage you to take this time to educate
yourself and your loved ones about the dangers of alcohol abuse.
In New York State alone, there were 8,461 drunken driving crashes in 2011,
362 of those crashes were fatal.(NYS
DMV) Young drinking drivers are at the
highest risk. Drivers 20 years old or younger are almost three times more
likely to be involved in alcohol related fatal crashes than other drivers. Even
though most teenagers know that you should not drink and drive, nearly a third
still accepts rides from drivers who have been drinking.
According to the 2012 Communities That Care Prevention Needs
Assessment Survey, 57% of Putnam County youth grades 8-12 have used alcohol in
their lifetime. Tragic health, social
and economic problems result from the use of alcohol by youth. Underage
drinking is a causal factor in a host of serious problems, including homicide,
suicide, traumatic injury, drowning, burns, violent and property crime, high
risk sex, fetal alcohol syndrome, alcohol poisoning, and need for treatment for
alcohol abuse and dependence.
Community norms
that foster alcohol abuse are a major factor. Parental support, monitoring and
communication can significantly reducing drinking among adolescents.
The Putnam CTC Coalition encourages all parents to:
- Increase awareness of alcohol use disorders and the success of prevention and treatment.
- Educate yourself and loved ones, especially our youth, about the dangers of alcohol abuse.
- Support and encourage referrals for treatment for individuals when an alcohol addiction is suspected or present.
If you are drinking too much, you can improve your health by
cutting back or quitting. Keep track of how much you drink, avoid places where
overdrinking occurs, and find new ways to deal with stress. If you are
concerned about someone else’s drinking, offer to help.
Members of the Putnam CTC Coalition are available if you have
any questions or would like for us to do a presentation to your organization on
this or any other substance abuse trends that affect our children. Please call
the National Council on Alcoholism & Drug Dependencies of Putnam at
845-225-4646 for further information and referral services. Help is available today. Please visit and join us on Facebook by
searching “Putnam County Communities That Care – NY or on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/#!/PutnamCTCNY.
